Cribbs, who will turn 30-years-old in June, has spent his entire eight year career with the Browns and emerged as one of the NFL’s top returners. Cribbs will enter his ninth season in the league with eight career kickoff returns for touchdowns and a 25.9 average on kickoffs while returning three career punts back for touchdowns while averaging 11 yards per-return.

Cribbs is certainly a known commodity for kickoff and punt returns, but he hasn’t necessarily made an impact as a wide receiver. This past season in Cleveland, Cribbs recorded just seven receptions on 11 targets while recording 63 yards, which is an average of nine yards per-reception. The Kent State product’s top receiving year came in 2011 as he finished with 41 receptions on 67 targets for 518 yards and four touchdowns.

In all honesty, I’m really not sure why Cleveland never utilized Cribbs as a receiver despite the fact that he has the potential to be one of the league’s most explosive players.

If Cribbs were to choose to sign with the Patriots, then that would likely indicate that Julian Edelman would be parting ways with the team.

Cribbs would immediately step in as Edelman’s replacement, as he’s just as an effective return man, if not more, than Edelman and can certainly step into the offensive as a possible weapon for Tom Brady.

One interesting scenario that could come to shape is that Cribbs might not just be replacing Edelman, but he could also be replacing Wes Welker—as he’s “seriously considering bolting New England,” according to Albert Breer of NFL Network.

If that were the case, then Cribbs would definitely have his plate full in New England’s offense.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Cribbs does have the potential to be a very effective slot receiver in New England’s passing attack, but he won’t be anything near the productive that we’ve seen from Welker the past couple of seasons.

Whether or not New England and Welker do reach an agreement, the addition of Cribbs would certainly be a wise decision for Bill Belichick.

In my opinion, the biggest difference between Cribbs and Edelman is that Cribbs has stayed healthy throughout his entire eight-year career, as he’s missed just three games, while Edelman has played in just 48 out of a possible 64 games.

Only time will tell whether or not Cribbs does decide to join the Patriots, but it will ultimately come down to if he wants more money with Arizona or if he wants to play with one of the league’s elite quarterbacks in Tom Brady.

5 Responses to “Potential Patriot: Josh Cribbs”

Cribbs, who turns 30 this season, may not retain his speed for all that much longer. His career average per season for muffs/fumbles is about the same as Edelman’s total muffs/fumbles for his entire career.

ARZ will likely pay Cribbs more than it would cost the Pats to re-sign Edelman.

Welker is gone to Denver, time to move on. This shows me it was not about money, but that the Patriots O is wanting to go in another direction, Draft a younger player, or maybe restructure the O passing game. It will be interesting!